No Strings Attached
by IamDragonFury
Summary: Frisk needs help with his homework and everyone's busy, but, he gets help from one person, visible only to him, who has nothing but time, sessions continue and his grades improve, which makes it harder to hide his source. Also, Sans is acting peculiar, glued to his phone, spending more time out of the house, and a curious Papyrus is determined to see just what his brother is up to.
1. Chapter 1

No Strings Attached

Chapter 1.

Was originally called "Void Teacher", but, with the added subplot I thought it would be best to change the title.

* * *

Frisk, with a small bunch of papers stapled together in hand, walked into the kitchen, where Papyrus was making dinner and Asriel was sitting at the table.

"Hey, Frisk," Papyrus voiced, "are you done with your homework, yet?"

"No." the human boy sighed.

He looked around.

"Where is everyone?" Frisk wondered, "I know Asgore and Toriel are at a faculty meeting, but, what about everyone else?"

"Well, Undyne is attempting to, how she said, "up her boulder suplexing game"," the tall skeleton explained, "and Alphys is assiting her, as for Sans, well, I have no idea what he's up to, he went somewhere earlier, didn't tell anyone where, and I have no idea when he's gonna be back."

"Oh," Frisk groaned, "but, I need help with my homework."

"Sorry, Frisk," Papyrus said, "if I wasn't making dinner, I'd help you...or at least try."

"It's fine," Frisk sighed, "I'll try to figure it out by myself."

The disappointed human child left the kitchen and went upstairs to his and Asriel's room; he dropped his booklet of worksheets on the floor and flopped down beside it, looking at it again in a fruitless attempt to understand the questions written after where he had left off. t was not long before he gave up and dropped his pencil in defeat.

"Nah...I just don't get it." the boy whined.

Discouraged, he pressed his face against the blue carpeting on the floor and, for over a minute, he lie there in silence.

"What id wrong, child?" he suddenly heard.

Frisk raised his head off of the floor and saw someone who before only appeared in his dreams, but, as of recent, seemed to be showing up at random, whether he was asleep or awake. Regardless, only he was able to see this visitor.

"Hi, Gaster," the boy responded, "what are you doing here?"

"I dunno, I just got that inkling that you were distressed, and then, here I am," the skeletal man voiced, getting down to the human boy's level, "so, what troubles you, now?"

Frisk pushed himself up onto his knees.

"Hmm, I'm just frustrated," he explained, "I'm almost done with my homework, but, I came to a part I don't understand and now I don't know what to do."

"Is that so," Gaster asked, "what kind of homework is it?"

"It's a packet of work papers, all different subjects," Frisk affirmed, "I'm on the last one, but, it's math...with word problems, _word problems_!"

The skeletal man looked as the human boy tapped the specific worksheet with a disinterested look on his face.

"Well, if you would like," Gaster offered, "I could help you."

"Would you?" Frisk responded, "Everyone else is busy."

"Frisk, you're the first person I've been able to interact with, let alone aid, in a long time," the looming skeleton expressed, "trust me, whenever you need me, I'll always be here to help."

Frisk smiled gratefully, then turned his worksheet so both he and Gaster could read it.

"Now, this first problem is your classic 'train A and train B leave the station at X time' question..." Frisk explained.

* * *

It was 8:30 p.m. when Toriel and Asgore finally returned from the school faculty meeting.

"We're home." Toriel announced as she and Asgore walked through the front door.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad," Asriel responded.

"Welcome home, your highnesses," Papyrus voiced, "you're just in time for dinner."

"That's nice, but, where is everyone?" Toriel responded curiously.

"Well, Undyne and Alphys have been in the lab all day," the tall skeleton affirmed, "I have no idea where Sans is or what he is doing, and Frisk was upstairs doing his homework."

He took the fresh pot of macaroni and cheese off of the stove.

"Well, I'll go tell Undyne and Alphys that dinner is ready." Asgore said.

"And I'll get Frisk." Toriel stated.

As she approached the staircase in the living room, she saw Frisk come to top step.

"Oh, there you are, Frisk," the goat woman voiced, "I was just coming to tell you that dinner was ready."

"Sweet, I just finished my homework," Frisk said, "so, I'm ready to eat."

"Yes, how did it go?" Toriel inquired, "I'm sorry I couldn't be here to help you, the meeting dragged on longer than I anticipated."

"That's okay, Toriel," Frisk replied, "I managed."

"Is that so?" the goat woman responded, "Well, next time, I'll try to be here, if nobody else is."

She hugged the human boy before they went to the kitchen, where everybody was already taking their place at the table.

Asriel looked up at the clock.

"Gosh, it's getting late," he voiced, "Sans'll miss dinner if he's no home soon."

"It is strange," Asgore voiced, "he usually doesn't stay out this late."

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Toriel said, "he's a grown skeleton after all."

"That does it," Papyrus huffed, "I'm going to try calling him again!"

However, just as he got up, they heard the front door open and shut.

"Hey guys," Sans called, "I'm home."

"Well, it's about time," Papyrus voiced irately, as his brother entered the kitchen, "where on Earth have you been?"

"Out." Sans stated.

"Well, what were you doing 'out' for so long?" his younger taller brother question further.

"Does it matter?" the short skeleton simply replied.

"He was just worried, Sans," Toriel voiced, "we're not used to you being out so late without further notice."

"Yeah, that was my bad," Sans said, "I got so caught up in what I was doing, time just got away from me."

He took a seat at the table.

"Well, at least everyone's home now," Asgore said, "let's eat."

As everyone dug into their food, a buzzing noise was heard and Sans reached into his jacket pocket, taking out his vibrating cellphone.

"Oh, Come on, you literally just got home!" Papyrus uttered, "Who would be texting you?"

"Don't worry about it." Sans responded, answering the text he had received.

He put his phone back in his pocket.

"So, heads up," the short skeleton affirmed, "I might be out again tomorrow, as for how long, I'm not sure yet."

"Are you serious?" Papyrus responded.

"What? You always complain about me being lazy," Sans retorted, "just be glad I'm actually doing something."

"But, what are you doing!?" the annoyed, taller skeleton questioned.

"Papyrus," Toriel attested, "no yelling at the table."

"Right," Papyrus replied, "sorry."

He saw his brother responding to another text on his cellphone, but, just as he leaned slightly closer in attempt to see what was on the screen, Sans snapped the phone shut.

* * *

First chapters are always iffy, hopefully it'll get better.


	2. Chapter 2

No Strings Attached

Chapter 2.

Now for more secret stuff.

* * *

When the final school bell rang, Frisk was the first one to head for the door, however, on his way out of the classroom, Toriel stopped him.

"Frisk, wait a moment, please," she voiced, "I'd like to talk to you about yesterday's homework."

Frisk flinched.

"Is something wrong?" he asked tensely.

"No, no, dear, quite the opposite, actually," Toriel affirmed, "I just wanted to commend you on your work, usually you struggle with math problems, but, this time, you did very well."

"Oh, okay," Frisk replied awkwardly, "good."

"Did you really not have any help on it?" his maternal guardian wondered.

The human boy feebly drummed his hands on the desk.

"I just...tried to remember what I learned in class," he said, "I guess it just finally came to me."

As much as he hated lying to her, Frisk knew that even if he did tell the truth, it would be impossible to explain.

Thankfully, Toriel asked no further questions and the two finally made their way out of the school.

* * *

Once home, Frisk took his backpack up to his and Asriel's room, where he found the goat boy reading a book at their studying desk.

"Welcome home, Frisk." Asriel said, glancing back at him.

"Hi, Asriel," the human boy replied, "what are you doing?"

"Reading the dictionary," the goat child affirmed, "Mom's talking about putting me in school, so, I kinda wanna prepare myself ahead of time."

Frisk nodded in response.

"Well, I have homework," he voiced, "so, whenever you're done I kinda need the desk."

"Oh, okay," Asriel replied, "I'll go downstairs, I wanna talk to Mom anyway."

He then left the room with the sizable book tucked awkwardly under his arm.

Frisk threw his worksheets onto the desk and seated himself in the chair in front of it; as he looked down on the pieces of paper in front of him, he started to think.

" _Hmm...actually, after yesterday, I really should th-_ " he thought.

"Frisk?" he suddenly heard.

Frisk turned around in his chair and, to his delight, saw Gaster standing behind him.

"Oh, hello," he voiced, "I thought you might show up today."

"So did I," the looming skeleton replied, "somehow."

Frisk quickly got up from his chair and shut the door to his room, locking it behind him, then returned to the desk.

"What are you up to, more homework?" the Gaster asked.

The human boy nodded.

"Ah, and how did your homework from yesterday turn out?" the skeletal man wondered, "Did my help prove to be worthwhile?"

"It did, Toriel was so proud," Frisk expressed, "thank you for helping me."

"Anytime." Gaster said genially.

Frisk looked down at the math sheets in front of him.

"It's more math," he affirmed, "maybe you could help me again...if you want...please?"

As the human child looked up pleadingly, Gaster smiled down at him.

"What is it today?" the skeleton man inquired.

"Multiplication," Frisk said, "it starts out easy enough, but, once I get to the x5 and up, I tend to get stuck."

* * *

Around 6:00 p.m., Sans teleported into the living room, having returned from wherever he had been while out of the house.

"Heyo." he said to those present.

"Welcome home, Sans." Toriel said from the kitchen doorway.

"Well, look whose home," Papyrus voiced, "nice of you to come home _before_ dinner is ready."

"Yes, yes," Sans sighed, "this time I made sure to keep track of the time."

"Well, in any case," Toriel affirmed, "dinner is almost ready."

Sans started heading for the kitchen.

"Well, are we to assume that you were doing the same thing that you were doing yesterday when you got home so late?" Papyrus questioned.

"Does it...matter?" Sans responded.

"Of course not," Toriel voiced, "so long as you weren't doing anything dangerous."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that." Sans said.

He then teleported himself into the kitchen, waving to his annoyed brother from the doorway, then took his seat at the kitchen table.

"Asriel," Toriel requested, "please, tell Frisk to come down for dinner."

"Okay, Mom." the goat boy replied, getting up form his little lounge chair.

Upstairs, Frisk had just gotten his homework done, Gaster's guidance having helped him out once again.

"Is that it?" the tall skeleton asked.

"That's it," the human boy affirmed, "all done."

He slipped the worksheets into his folder and dropped it into his backpack.

"Thanks for helping me again," Frisk said, "even though this doesn't count as a 'dire' situation."

"Aw, it's not trouble." Gaster replied, petting the human boy on the head.

"Hey, maybe sometime, you won't have to show up like this to help me," Frisk offered, "you could be here in person, with me, with everyone."

Gaster was taken aback by the child's claim, he preferred not to get either his or the boy's hopes up, but, as Frisk looked up at him with such a hopeful smile, he could not bring himself to respond negatively.

"You never know." the looming skeleton simply said.

Frisk looked on thoughtfully.

"Um...do you think you could show up again tomorrow?" the boy voiced, "It's the start of the weekend and I might not have homework, but, would you comeback anyway? There's other things I wanna talk about...besides schoolwork."

"I'll visit whenever you want, my child." Gaster affirmed.

Just then, there was a knock at the bedroom door.

"Frisk?" they heard.

"Oh, it's Asriel." Frisk noted.

"Guess I better go for now," Gaster said, "see you tomorrow, Frisk."

Frisk waved him off as he vanished, then opened the door.

"Frisk," Asriel informed him, "dinner's ready."

"All right," Frisk said, "I'm coming."

They made ther way to the kitchen, where everyone was already seated, receiving their meal portions from Toriel.

"Hey, Frisk," Toriel wondered, "did you get your homework done?"

Frisk nodded in response.

"Thank God, tomorrows the weekend," Papyrus voiced, "everyone gets a day off."

"I know the kids will certainly be happy about it." Asgore said.

"I have an idea," Toriel voiced, "since it's supposed to be nice tomorrow, why don't we all go down to the park once school is out?"

Everyone responded positively.

"Yay, I finally get to go to the park!" Asriel said joyfully.

"Oh, that's right," Asgore affirmed, "this _will_ be the first time we're going to the park since you've been back."

"It'll be fun," Asriel voiced, "won't it, Frisk?"

Frisk thought about it, realizing that depending on when they went to park and how long they would be there would determine just how long he would have to meet with Gaster, if he would get any time at all. Then, as he looked at the smiling goat boy, he remembered that Gaster promised to return _whenever_ he wanted him to.

"It _will_ be fun," Frisk said, "I'll finally have someone to swing with."

His affirmation got him a hug from the goat child.

* * *

It was 9:30 p.m., and with the children in bed, everyone was beginning to settle down for the night.

After having a shower, Papyrus was making his way down the hall to his room and as he passed Sans' room, something caught his attention. It sounded like Sans was talking to somebody.

Curious, Papyrus carefully turned the knob on Sans' bedroom door and opened the door a crack, he saw Sans lying on his bed, legs crossed over one another, one arm tucked under his skull, and his free hand up to his ear. He was on his cellphone.

"Yeah, so I may not be free to hang out tomorrow," the short skeleton said into phone, "Toriel's planned a family day at the park."

Papyrus listened closely, remaining completely silent.

"Yeah, it's Asriel's first time their since he got restored," Sans affirmed, "so, it's kind of a big deal."

Sans turned on his side, away from the door, much to Papyrus's relief.

"Yep, the kids were really excited, ya know," Sans continued, "I couldn't bring myself to try and get out of it, not with the way they were looking at all of us."

He laughed as he presumably listened to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

"Ah, yeah, I knew you'd understand," the short skeleton sighed, "but, I promise, tomorrow, as soon as we get home and I get time to myself, I'll call you, all right?"

Papyrus felt his curiosity increasing with every word he heard.

"Uh huh, great, save me the usual, okay?" Sans voiced, "Okay, cool, I'll see ya when I see ya, good night."

With that, the conversation seemed to end and he hung up his phone.

Seeing his brother turn to his other side, Papyrus quickly and carefully, pulled Sans' bedroom door shut.

The tall skeleton quickly headed for his room and as he did, many thoughts began to fill his head.

" _What are you up to_ , _brother_?" he thought to himself.

* * *

Yay, second chapter done, I think this is gonna be fun to write...provided I can keep it interesting.

More to come next time.


	3. Chapter 3

No Strings Attached

Chapter 3.

Moving on with the story, things may get interesting...or more interesting...depending on how readers view the story so far.

* * *

3:30 p.m. with school out and the children free for the weekend, Frisk and co went to the local park, he and Asriel were on the swings. The human boy was happy that the swing next to him, long empty before, was now occupied by the one person he had been waiting for. Needless to say, the goat child was having just as much fun as all had expected.

The two were being pushed on the swings by the skeleton brothers.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Asriel?" Papyrus asked the goat boy, as he pushed his swing forward.

"I am," Asriel affirmed blissfully, "I can't remember the last time I've had this much fun, even before...everything...ya know!"

"What about you, Frisk?" Sans asked the human child as he prepared pushed the swing again, "Are you having fun?"

"Of course, I am." Frisk answered.

"I thought so," Sans said, "I only wondered because you seemed kinda spacey today."

His statement surprised Frisk, he did not think it was that obvious, then again, it was hard to get anything past Sans; it was true, all day, Frisk had been thinking about when he would get to see Gaster again. There was so much he wanted to talk to the mysterious man about, so much he wanted to learn from him, the more he interacted with the skeleton scientist, the more determined he felt to find a way to save him.

"Oh, yeah," Frisk voiced, "well, you seem kinda spacey today too, Sans, what's on your mind?"

"I wouldn't bother asking, Frisk," Papyrus voiced, "Sans isn't one to divulge the details of his life outside the house."

"Gee, bro," Sans responded, "I didn't know it was so wrong to have a personal life."

"That's not the point," Papyrus expressed, "I'm used to you not telling me, or anyone, anything, but you can't deny that you're acting different lately, you're like...more active and stuff."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Sans voiced, "I figured you'd be glad that I'm not as lazy as I used to be."

"Of course that's a good thing," Papyrus said, "but, it just feels so...sudden, out of nowhere, it's almost jarring. I'm just not _used to it_."

Frisk and Asriel exchanged worried glances as the brothers continued their tense conversation.

"Well then," Sans said to his brother, "guess you better just _get used to it_."

"Come on, Sans," Papyrus pressed, "what could you possibly doing that is so personal that you wouldn't tell your family about it? Is it really that bad?"

"I'm not doing anything bad," the short skeleton said, irritation growing in his voice, "it's no cause for concern at all."

"Then why are you being so secretive about it?" the tall skeleton questioned.

"Because if I told you," Sans huffed, "nobody would leave it alone."

Papyrus responded with an annoyed sighed.

"Look, I do plan on telling everyone...eventually," Sans said, "but, right now, I just wanna see where it goes."

Papyrus realized that they had reached an impasse, his brother was not going to give him a straight answer.

"I'm sorry," Frisk said, "I shouldn't have asked that question."

"Don't sweat it, Frisk," Sans affirmed, "you didn't do anything wrong."

"Should we take a break?" Asriel wondered.

"No, no," the tall skeleton said coolly, "everything fine, let's not waste this nice day with petty arguing."

"Agreed." Sans stated.

The skeleton brothers resumed pushing the two children on the swings, this time in complete silence.

* * *

It was nearly 6:00 p.m. when the family returned home and Toriel was quick to start making dinner.

"Okay," she voiced, "I'm going to start dinner, who's helping tonight?"

"Oh, me, Toriel!" Undyne uttered, "Me me me!"

"Oh, me too, me too!" Papyrus said giddily.

"I'll help...just as soon as I'm done upstairs." Sans affirmed.

"Let me guess," Papyrus responded flatly, "making a phone call?"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," the shorter skeleton retorted, "don't worry about it."

He then teleported himself out of the kitchen, much to the tall skeleton's irritation.

"Can I help make dinner, Momma?" Asirel asked.

"Of course you can, dear," Toriel said, "maybe Frisk will help, too."

Her suggestion got the human boy's attention.

"Frisk," Asriel inquired, "do you wanna help with dinner?"

Frisk looked from the clock, to the stairway in the living room, and back to the counter where the others were standing.

"Of course," Toriel said, "you don't _have_ to help, it won't take much."

The human child would have taken the opportunity to go to his room and meet with his secret teach, but, seeing the disappointment on the goat boy's face was enough to break him.

"Nah, I'll help," Frisk affirmed, "I mean, with the whole family helping, it's sure to get done, and hopefully eaten, much faster."

He quickly took his place at the counter with the others as Toriel began to lay out the intended ingredients.

"Actually," Papyrus voiced, "before I get started, I think I'm gonna go...upstairs and...wash my hands."

"Why not just use the kitchen sink?" Undyne questioned, "Or just keep your gloves on...ya know...like you _usually_ do?"

"I just...prefer the bathroom soap," Papyrus said awkwardly, "and...maybe I wanna change it up...for once...be right back."

He then quickly left the kitchen.

"Does anyone else have something they have to do before we start?" Toriel wondered.

Everyone shook their heads.

"All right then." the goat woman said.

Upstairs, Papyrus quickly scurried over to Sans' closed bedroom door, upon testing the knob, he found that it was locked, so, he simply placed the side of his skull against the door and listened closely.

"Hey, it's me," Sans voiced, clearly on his phone, "yeah, we just got home and now we're getting dinner started."

There was a brief pause.

"Yeah, making dinner tends to turn into a family activity here," Sans said, "the kids love it."

There was another pause before Sans laughed.

"I am not," Sans replied to whoever he was talking to, "it's just...instinctive."

Papyrus quietly tapped the door as he tried to determine what Sans and whoever was on the other end of the phone was talking about.

"Yeah, my bro enjoys it too," Sans continued, "he's definitely improved since we came to the surface."

The tall skeleton shrugged in response to his brother's indirect flattery.

"Ya know," Sans suddenly said, "maybe sometime I could finally cook something for you?"

Papyrus's curiosity was further piqued.

"I'm serious," Sans laughed, "or would you prefer something baked?"

There was a silence for several seconds.

"Believe me," Sans said, "I'm well-aware of what you like and you know what I like, so...there's no excuse."

He laughed in response to whatever was said in return.

"Come on, you know I wouldn't be frugal with you," Sans said playfully, "nobody would buy if it wasn't worth it."

He let out a long sigh.

"Yeah, we'll have to;" Sans voiced, "I should probably go now, they may have already started dinner."

With that, Papyrus quickly fled the hallway and ran back to the kitchen.

* * *

By the time dinner was done and eaten, it was almost 7:30 p.m., and since Asriel decided to take a bath, Frisk decided that take the opportunity to meet with Gaster in his room.

"No homework tonight?" Gaster queried.

Frisk shook his head.

"I wanted to do something unrelated to schoolwork," Frisk affirmed, "something I don't know when or if we'll ever learn in school."

Gaster looked on curiously.

Frisk tapped his hands together softly as he worked up the nerve to answer.

"I know, when I first met you...in my dreams...you tried to speak to me using your hands," the human boy voiced, "and even though I didn't understand what you were trying to say, I still thought it was interesting...so, I way thinking...I want to learn that."

The looming skeleton was surprised.

"Will you teach me how to talk with my hands?" Frisk asked opening and closing his tiny hands.

"You want to learn sign language?" Gaster replied, "I'd be happy to teach you, but, it's surprising, that's not something many kids want to learn about."

"I like talking and learning with you," Frisk expressed, "just like Toriel, you actually seem like you wanna help me learn, that you don't mind helping me when I make a mistake. The teachers where I came from before weren't very nice or understanding at all, they didn't want to help us, they called us bad things, and they got mad whenever we got even a single answer wrong. Don't even get me started on the discipline."

"I see..." the skeletal man mused, "it sounds like those teachers didn't like their job."

"They didn't like _us_ ," Frisk attested, "we could hear them say it as we passed outside the classroom, they thought we were idiots for not understanding every word they spoke, but, it was _their_ fault, we didn't know anything because _they wouldn't_ help us learn, we were just expected to _know everything_ , I hated it, I _hated_ them...we _all_ did."

Gaster put his hand on the child's shoulder.

"Now, Frisk, don't dwell on the actions of those oppressors," the skeleton scientist said, "people like that are wrong, teaching people, especially children, much like raising them, requires patience."

Frisk looked up curiously.

"Does it have to be saintly patience?" Gaster continued, "Of course not, just enough so you can wake up ready for the day and go to sleep at night feeling accomplished."

The human boy smiled in response.

"Now, on with the lesson," Gaster said, "now, customary with learning a new language, I'll first show you how to sign 'hello'."

He raised his bony hands.

"Do as I do." he instructed.

Frisk raised his hands and watched as the looming skeleton formed a tilted shape with his hand, index finger and middle finger outstretched while the last two were pinned beneath his thumb. The human boy then tried to emulate what he had seen, though it felt strange as he had never moved his hand like that before.

"Like this?" Frisk asked, holding out his hand.

Gaster took the child's tiny hand in his bigger ones and gently readjusted his thumb to the proper position.

"Just like that." the skeletal man affirmed.

He then went on to sign the letter E, by simply curling his long fingers and laying his thumb across them, simple enough, Frisk easily copied it. The rest of the letter was just as simple.

"Now, try putting it all together." Gaster said.

Frisk slowly moved his hands in the way he had just been shown, careful to get as right as possible. He then tried it again, faster than before, this time getting it done perfectly.

"And that's how we say 'hello' in sign language." the skeleton man affirmed.

* * *

Another chapter done, already, wow; it honestly feels like this is writing itself by this point.


	4. Chapter 4

No Strings Attached

Chapter 4.

Time to pick things up a little, by taking it to a personal level.

* * *

It was a new day and with a new day came another sign language lesson with Gaster for Frisk; the human boy was sitting on the looming skeleton's lap as he demonstrated different hand signals.

"Now, put it all together." Gaster instructed.

With tentative hand movements, Frisk tried to spell his own name using hand signals; though he stumbled on a couple of them, with Gaster's guidance, he soon got it right.

"Did I do it?" the human boy wondered.

"Yes, well done," the skeletal man affirmed, "you now know how to say your name in signs."

Frisk happily opened and closed his hands, feeling confident.

"What other names can you sign?" Gaster asked.

Frisk looked at his hands and started signing again:

With his thumb pinned between his index finger and his middle finger, he signed a " **T** ".

With his fingers and thumb making a plain circle shape, he signed an " **O** ".

With his index finger and middle finger crossed over one-another, his last to fingers curled, and his thumb placed over the last two fingers, he signed an " **R** ".

With his thumb laid over his first three fingers and his pinkie raised, he signed an " **I** "

With all his fingers curled and thumb laid over them, he signed an " **E** "

and finally, with his last three fingers curled, his index finger raised, and his thumb bent to the side, he signed an " **L** ".

"Toriel." Frisk stated, signing it all together quickly.

"Very good," Gaster said, "you're learning fast."

Frisk leaned back against the skeleton man's front, practically sinking into his lab-coat, feeling cozy and safe.

"Gaster, if you don't mind me asking," Frisk voiced, "do Sans and Papyrus know sign language?"

"Sans, yes." Gaster replied, "Papyrus, no."

He squeezed his hands together.

"Sans learned, but, once he learned to speak verbally, he didn't use it much, at least not with any other than me," the looming skeleton explained, "and Papyrus...well, I tried to teach him, but...when I did, he'd get distracted by my hand movements and eventually sign language lessons would turn into 'Patty Cake'."

Frisk nodded in response as the revelation did not surprise him.

"I loved them to bits," Gaster sighed, "I still do."

"I know." Frisk replied, clutching Gaster's arm.

Gaster smiled down at the human child and gently stroked his head.

"You know, Papyrus doesn't seem to remember or know anything about the past," Frisk voiced, "and Sans won't talk about it, so...would you tell me what it was like all those years ago? When Sans ans Papyrus were young? When you were the royal scientist?"

The skeletal man hesitated for a moment, but, he could not deny the child looking up so curiously at him.

"All right," Gaster attested, "but, it's a long story, I probably won't be able to tell you everything today."

"That's fine, while everyone's busy," Frisk replied, "however long it takes, I want to hear everything you can tell me, please don't leave anything out."

"Very well, then," Gaster said, "well, I guess I'll start at the beginning; truth be told, Asgore and I actually knew each-other long before I was the royal scientist."

"Really?" a surprised Frisk responded.

"That's right," the skeleton man affirmed, "what a lot of people don't know is that we actually met in school, when we were assigned as lab partners ins science class."

"Wow," Frisk replied, "I didn't expect that."

"Well," Gaster offered, "how else would he have known of my scientific knowledge?"

Frisk shrugged and nodded in response.

* * *

Meanwhile, down in the living room, Sans was watching television, while Toriel was reading a book with Asriel and Papyrus was "working" on a crossword puzzle. Suddenly, music tone broke the silence of the room, at which point Sans reached into his pocket and pulled out his ringing cellphone.

"Welp," the short skeleton said, "gotta take this."

He then teleported himself out of the room.

"Ugh," Papyrus groaned, "again with the phone, this is getting ridiculous."

"Sans certainly does seem to have an active social life." Toriel said.

"I'm well aware of Sans having many friends," Papyrus said, "but, I've never seen him spend so much time on his phone, other than when he texts you."

"Well, life on the surface did bring change to everyone's lives," Toriel voiced, "perhaps Sans has found new ways to spend his time."

Papyrus looked impatiently at the upper level of the house.

"Be right back." he said.

The tall skeleton quickly ran to the stairs.

"Ah ah," Toriel asserted, "no running on the stairs."

Papyrus carefully walked up the stairway then hurried down the hall to Sans room, which, once again was locked. Just like before, Papyrus pressed his skull against the door to listen as Sans talked on his phone.

"Everyone's pretty much just chilling right now," Sans said, "nothing's really going on here."

There was a pause.

"Ah, slow business day, huh?" Sans responded to whoever was on the other end, "Yeah, that happens, what can you do?"

" _Come on_ ," Papyrus thought restlessly, " _who is it? Say a name already!_ "

"What, come over? Right now?" Sans suddenly voiced.

There was a pause.

"Oh, no, I don't mind coming over," Sans said, "it's just...I've been thinking...we've been doing this for a while now, and...we should go somewhere else sometime, my treat."

Sans started laughing.

"I'm dead serious," the short skeleton expressed, "you've given me plenty from your place, so, I wanna do something nice for you, just, let me treat you already."

Suddenly, Papyrus began to get an inkling of what may be going on.

"Hey, shut up," Sans laughed, "you know I'm better than that, I promise, we'll go somewhere nice."

Several seconds of silence went by.

"Yeah, okay," the short skeleton said, "I'll come over so we can discuss it more, face-to-face."

Papyrus listened as his brother bid the caller on the other end farewell and hung up his phone.

"Papyrus?" he suddenly heard.

The tall skeleton tensed as he glanced over his shoulder and spotted Frisk looking up at him curiously.

"What are you doing?" the human child wondered.

"Uh...I...uh..." Papyrus faltered.

Just then, Sans opened the door to his room and saw them standing there.

"Oh, hey bro," the short skeleton voiced, "what's going on?"

"Hey...I was just...passing by." his brother said awkwardly.

"But, why were leaning against the d-" Frisk tried to ask.

Papyrus hastily snatched the human child up off the ground and held him up in the air.

"Oh my dearest, little, human friend," the tall skeleton expressed, trying not to lose face, pulling Frisk into a tight hug, "how precious you are, how I cherish you, now, let us retreat to the...the...basement...where we can discuss further matters."

He then carried the human child off, leaving a confused Sans to take care of his own affairs.

Down in the living room, Toriel and Asriel watched curiously as Papyrus (carefully) rushed down the stairs with Frisk and headed for the basement. Soon after, Sans came walking down the stairs.

"What's going on?" Toriel wondered.

"I have no idea;" Sans said, "hey, just an advanced notice, I'm going out now and I'm not sure when I'll be back."

"All righty, then," Toriel said, "I'll make sure to save you some dinner."

"Cool," the short skeleton replied, "'kay, I'll be going now, later."

"We'll see you later." Toriel responded.

Asriel waved the short skeleton off.

"Ah, it seems like everyone has something interesting to do," Asriel sighed, "except for me."

"Oh, don't fret, darling," Toriel voiced, "once you start school, you'll make new friends and find lots more to do."

"I hope so." Asriel said.

* * *

Papyrus made it to the basement with Frisk, where they found Undyne and Alphys.

"Why'd we come down here, Papyrus?" Frisk wondered, "What were you doing outside of Sans' room?"

"Oh, well, see, Frisk," the tall skeleton said meekly, getting down to the human boy's level, "he was on his cellphone and I just...wanted to see what he was talking about...or talking too."

"You mean you were eavesdropping?" Frisk responded warily

"P-Papyrus," Alphys chastised, "how could you? I-It's wrong to spy on other people like that."

"Yeah, you're not supposed to get caught," Undyne voiced, "we went over this in training, when it comes to spying, discretion is the key!"

"U-Undyne, that's not at all what I meant," Alphys asserted, "spying on an enemy is one thing, b-but, you should never _ever_ eavesdrop on family members, i-it's just not right."

"What are you talking about?" Undyne questioned, "Didn't you have cameras like _all_ over the underground before we came to the surface?"

"It was Asgore's orders," Alphys attested, "for security reasons, but, I just randomly snoop on other people's personal business, especial not people I'm close to."

Papyrus stood up.

"I know it's not right, but, I couldn't help it," the tall skeleton lamented, "I just want to know why my brother's been so uncommunicative lately, it seems like the only person he talks to now is on the other end of that phone of his."

"Well, what have you heard so far?" Undyne wondered.

Alphys gave her a reproachful look.

"What?" the fish woman replied, "I'm curious too, he's come this far, there's no going back now."

Her lizard girlfriend simply rolled her eyes.

"So, Pap," Undyne inquired, "what's Sans up to?"

"I don't know," Papyrus sighed, "I mean, I have theories, but, I'm just not sure."

"I'm not in this." Alphys huffed.

She jumped down off of her work stool and walked toward the staircase.

"Come on, Frisk," the lizard scientist said, "you shouldn't get involved in this either."

Frisk nodded and followed Alphys up the stair, curious or not, he knew Toriel would disapprove of snooping on family members.

"I feel like I'm going insane, Undyne," Papyrus sighed, "my brother's always up to something and it irritates me that I'm usually the last one who finds out about it."

"Just, calm down," the fish woman voiced, "tell me, what have you heard so far, do you know who he's talking to?"

"I don't know who it is," the tall skeleton affirmed, "all I've heard is that, whoever it is, he meets up with them a lot and talks about doing fun things with them, and every time he talks to them, he sounds so...happy...happier than I've ever heard him be before." As he said it, the more he thought about it, the more dispirited he began to feel.

" _Have I not done a good job_?" the tall skeleton thought tensely.

Undyne thought about.

"Hmm..." she mused, "I got it, Pap, the answer is simple, if you wanna find out what your brother's up to, you gotta get your hands on his phone."

"Get his cellphone?" Papyrus responded, "But, he almost never puts the thing down."

"He's gotta sleep sometime, right?" Undyne offered, "I'm telling you, the next time he goes to sleep, get that phone and we'll see what all the fuss is about."

* * *

Whoo, another chapter done.

I know that bit about Gaster saying that he knew Asgore since they were in school seemed like a bit of a stretch, but, I had to think of a reason for how Asgore and him know each-other and how he became the royal scientist, so, I just made up a scenario on the spot.

More to come eventually.


	5. Chapter 5

No Strings Attached

Chapter 5.

More hopefully interesting stuff ahoy.

* * *

It was almost 10:00 a.m. during school and Frisk, along with the rest of the class, was working on another math worksheet. Remembering everything that he had learned from Gaster, Frisk breezed through the assignment like it was nothing.

Toriel was pleasantly surprised to see Frisk being the first one done with his work; it was another ten minutes before the entire class was done working, and at 10:00 a.m. the recess bell rang.

Out on the playground, Frisk was sitting with some of his school friends.

"Frisk, I can't believe you got that worksheet done before everyone else," a young Ice Cap said, "I struggled on that last question for like, three minutes."

"It's because Frisk is a _beast_ ," Monster Kid declared, jumping up and down, "inside and out!"

"Yeesh," a young Madjick scoffed, "just kiss him already why don't ya."

"H-Hey," Monster Kid responded, "shut up!"

"It's no big deal guys," Frisk voiced, "really, all I did was brush up on my math knowledge."

"Have you looked at the board in class lately?" the Madjick child affirmed, "You're already almost at the top, last week, you were barely at the middle."

The Ice Cap child slid closer to Frisk.

"He's right;" the icy child voiced, "what's your secret, Frisk?"

Frisk tensed as he tried to figure out how to respond.

"Oh, you know..." he said, "I...get a lot of help at home."

"That should've been a given," Monster Kid said, "seeing as he lives with the teacher."

"Right," Frisk said more easily, "between her and everyone else in the house, I always have someone who can help me."

"Aw, you're lucky," Monster Kid groaned, "my parents are usually too busy to help me with my homework."

The others nodded along with him.

"Hey, Frisk," the armless child voiced, "maybe you could help me with my homework sometime, seeing as you've gotten so good at it."

"Yeah," the Ice Cap child said, "maybe you could help me, too."

"Me too!" the Madjick child said.

Frisk looked on tensely as they all looked at him pleadingly, he was all for helping his friends out, but, this was a bit of a tall order for him.

"Well, guys..." the human child affirmed, "give me some time to think it over and I'll get back to you on that."

"Okay, then." the young Ice Cap responded.

"We understand if you're busy," Monster Kid said, "there's no rush."

"Well said." Frisk stated, petting the armless child and the icy child on the head, while the Madjick child hugged him from behind.

Eventually, the bell rang, marking the end of recess, at which point, Frisk and the other children made their way back into the school building.

After returning to class, Frisk and the others were moved onto the day's art session, which involved using different shapes to make different creatures. However, Frisk mind was somewhere else, he was already thinking about meeting with Gaster again after school, learning more from him, whether it involved schoolwork or if it was just more stories about the past, which he was eager to hear. As he thought about it, went about absentmindedly cutting out random shapes to use on his project.

Next to him, Monster Kid, who was gluing his own shapes together using him mouth, took a look at what Frisk was putting together.

"Whatcha makin', Frisk?" he asked.

"Huh?" Frisk responded, snapping back to reality, "Oh, a...person...I guess."

"Are those the hands?" the armless child wondered, looking closely at the piece.

"Yeah." the human child answered.

"But, why did you cut holes in the palms?" Monster Kid inquired curiously.

Frisk looked down at his work, unaware of what he had really been doing, and saw that he had actually cut holes in the center of the hands he had made.

"Whoops," he said meekly, "guess I wasn't paying attention."

"Don't feel bad, Frisk," the reptile child said, "I think it looks pretty neat."

* * *

As soon as school was over and Toriel brought him home, Frisk went straight to his room and met with Gaster once again and was currently sitting on the looming skeleton's lap, working on his hand signals while he listened to another story about the past.

"...And that is how Asgore and Toriel finally met." Gaster said.

"Wow," Frisk responded, moving his hands around aimlessly, "that's interesting, but, did you really have to tell Asgore that he'd get brain damage if he didn't eventually talk to her?"

"Had to tell him something," Gaster affirmed, "his constant hesitation was getting on my nerves."

Frisk laughed in response.

"Ya know, Gaster," the human child voiced, burying himself in the skeletal man's coat, "since you've been helping me with schoolwork and stuff, my grades have gotten a lot better."

"Have they, now?" the skeleton scientist replied, "Good for you, Frisk."

"Yeah, it's good," Frisk said, resting against the skeleton's front, "but, now my friends are wanting me to help them with their homework, I don't want to let them down, but, I don't know if I'm good enough to be a teacher."

"Who said you had to do it alone?" Gaster voiced.

Frisk looked up at him.

"You mean...you'd help me...help them?" the human child wondered.

"If you'd like." the skeletal man said.

"Yes please," Frisk said, "it seems that I'm not the only one who has trouble with math."

"Let me tell you, Frisk," Gaster affirmed, "quite a few people hate math, even the people who are good at it can't stand it."

Frisk looked on curiously.

"But, you know," the skeletal man continued, "when you actually do learn about something you hate, it gives you a better understanding of the world around you...I learned that a long time ago."

The human boy nodded understandingly.

"Well, then," he said, "I guess I'll call the others and tell them that I'll help them after all."

* * *

For the entire day, Papyrus watched Sans closely, waiting for a moment where he would finally set his cellphone down and leave it unattended. But, for nearly every moment of the day, if he was not talking or texting on it, Sans kept his phone safely in his pocket.

Then finally, opportunity struck, when Sans decided to take a shower; As soon as the shorter skeleton was preoccupied, Papyrus snuck into Sans' room, found his jacket, and dove his hands into the pockets.

"Nyeh heh," Papyrus laughed proudly, "victory."

He then ran to his room, where Undyne was waiting for him.

"Did you get it?" the fish woman asked.

"Sure did." the tall skeleton stated.

He flipped the phone open.

"Now let's see who this mystery person is." Papyrus voiced.

However, he quickly became disappointed.

"Ah, he cleared all his previous messages and calls." he groaned.

"Just check his contacts." Undyne said.

Papyrus did just that.

"What the-" he uttered, "come on!"

"What is it?" Undyne responded.

"Apparently Sans doesn't list his contacts by name, just by 'nicknames'," Papyrus explained, "it looks like I'm listed as 'Bro', Toriel is 'Mama Goat', Frisk is "Human Kiddo', Asgore is 'King Goat', Alphys is 'Science Buddy', and you're 'Fish Tank'."

"Why would he list me as..." Undyne mused, "...well...okay, I think I get it."

She took the phone.

"Here, let's look for one that looks unfamiliar." she said.

Undyne and Papyrus looked closely at the phone as they scrolled through Sans list of contacts.

"Let's see..." Undyne muttered, "'Flame-tastic' is obviously Grillby, 'Lights&Legs' has gotta be Mettaton, 'Phones' is definitely Napstablook, and..." they stopped scrolling, "Hello."

"What is it?" Papyrus wondered.

"Here's one I'm not sure of," the fish woman informed him, "someone listed as 'Purple Heart'."

"Purple Heart?" the tall skeleton responded, "Strange, who would that be?"

"I don't know," Undyne said, with her ear pressed against the wall, "but, we better get out of here, I just heard the the shower get turned off."

Papyrus quickly took Sans' cellphone back to his brother's room and shoved it back into the pocket he originally took it from, then ran back to his own room.

"Whoo," the tall skeleton sighed, "that was close."

"Okay, this is good," Undyne voiced, "we found a lead, now, listen for his next call and see if you can get any more clues."

"I don't know," Papyrus voiced, "I'm not sure if I should keep doing this, I've already got caught once and if Sans catches me, I have no idea what he'll do."

"Come on, Pap," the fish woman said, "we're so close to finding out-"

Suddenly they heard a noise.

"Hmm?" Papyrus said, "That sounds like Sans' phone."

"What are we waiting for," Undyne uttered, "let's go!"

The two quietly exited Papyrus's room and slunk over to Sans' locked bedroom door.

"Nothing right now," Sans said, clearly talking on his phone, "just got out of the shower."

"You think that's 'Purple Heart'?" Undyne asked Papyrus quietly.

The tall skeleton shushed her in response.

"No," Sans replied to whoever he was talking to, "I didn't forget about tomorrow, 7:00 right?"

There was a brief pause.

"I know," the short skeleton expressed, "I still can't believe they opened an independent version of the MTT resort restaurant either, seems like even though everyone's happy to be on the surface, they don't wanna let go of what we had in the underground."

Papyrus and Undyne listened closely with great interest.

"Huh? Oh...no, I haven't told anyone yet," Sans voiced, "it's not like I don't plan to ever tell them, I just...wanna see how this plays out, plus...ya know, this is one of those things where once you tell your family, they pump you for every last detail, which sucks for someone who likes to keep to themselves."

The tall skeleton and the fish woman looked at each-other, intrigued by what they were hearing.

"So, yeah, anyway, I'll see you tomorrow at 7:00, have a good night, Babe;" Sans sighed, then laughed, "I sure did, it's a thing now, better get used to it."

After one last farewell, they heard the short skeleton hang up his phone.

With that, they ran away from the door.

"Wowie, that was interesting," Papyrus voiced, "I guess one of my theories was correct."

"But, you heard what he said right?" Undyne wondered.

"Yeah, Sans is meeting someone, presumably 'Purple Heart', tomorrow at 7:00, and it seems that their going to the new 'MTT Surface Outlet'." Papyrus said.

"Welp, you know what we have to do." the fish woman offered.

Papyrus looked on curiously.

"Tomorrow, we get to that restaurant before Sans and "Purple Heart"," Undyne explained, "and wait there until they come, then we'll finally know whose been on the other end of your brother's phone."

"Okay, hold on," Papyrus replied, "first off, that seems a little _too_ extreme, second, MTT Surface Outlet is one of those eateries where you have to make reservations, do you really think we'd be able to get reservations for tomorrow?"

"Well, let's see." Undyne said.

The fish woman whipped out her cellphone and called up the aforementioned restaurant, ten minutes later, she came back with results.

"Okay, here's the deal," Undyne affirmed, "I called the restaurant and I managed to get reservations."

"Really?" Papyrus replied, "That was lucky."

"Yeah..." Undyne continued, "however, the earliest they were able to get seat us in was...well...5:00 p.m.."

"5:00 p.m.!?" Papyrus responded, "But, Sans' is at 7:00 p.m., that means we'll have to wait two whole hours to see what we're actually going to see."

"It was the most decent time I could get," Undyne asserted, "the earliest times were 10:00 a.m., noon, 2:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m., all the other ones were long after 7:00 p.m.."

"Ugh, well, fine," Papyrus sighed, "but, if we're really doing this, we'll have to keep a low profile, Sans can't know that we're there."

"I know," the fish woman replied, "that's why I got us a booth in the back, what are the odds that he'll see us?"

"Well, all right then," Papyrus said, "I've never doubted you before, guess I shouldn't start now."

"Good boy." Undyne stated, patting the tall skeleton on the head.

* * *

Somehow, people were assuming that Sans was talking to Grillby, I guess I can see why, but, "Purple Heart" should be a dead give away.

Anyway, next chapter, Papyrus and Undyne stakeout time.


	6. Chapter 6

No Strings Attached

Chapter 6.

Homework with friends for Frisk and Stakeout time for Papyrus and Undyne, here we go.

Also, I _just_ realized that this has gotten more Faves, Alerts, and reviews than "The Light That Leads Us Home"...not sure what to make of that.

* * *

Frisk was in his room, working on homework with some of his school friends, while Toriel was out with Asriel, looking to by him a cellphone of his very own. Asgore was downstairs cleaning, Sans was in his room, apparently getting ready to go somewhere later on, and Undyne and Papyrus were hanging out in the lab with Alphys.

Though, while everyone else was preoccupied, Frisk had nothing to worry about, as he had his good friend Gaster, that only he could see, standing by for him.

"What did everyone get for number 10?" the Ice Cap child asked.

"I don't know," Monster Kid said, "I'm still trying to figure it out."

"I skipped it." the Madjick child stated.

"Frisk, you're on that problem, too," Monster Kid voiced, "what did you get for an answer?"

Frisk looked up at Gaster, who was standing behind him, though he made it look like he was simply thinking.

"Let's see," the human boy said casually, while at the same time asking for help from his secret teacher, "what _is_ the answer for number 10?"

"You know what it is," Gaster instructed, "try to remember what it would be if you were adding by that much."

Frisk looked down at the paper.

"Twenty times five," he affirmed, "if you added it...so...the answer is...one hundred...I believe."

He glanced up at the looming skeleton who nodded.

"Yeah," Frisk said aloud, "the answer is one hundred."

"Really?" the young Ice Cap responded, writing the answer down.

"We'll see." the young Madjick said, writing the answer down.

"I trust you." Monster Kid affirmed, writing the answer down with his pencil in his mouth.

While his friends wrote down their answer, Frisk looked up and gave Gaster a thumbs up who gave him one in return.

The children continued to work on their homework, with Gaster watching over and answering to Frisk all the while.

* * *

Down in the basement, Undyne and Papyrus were watching Anime with Alphys, when Papyrus noticed the time.

"Hey, Undyne," he affirmed, "it's passed 4:30, we should probably get ready to do _that thing_ , yeah?"

"Wha-" Undyne responded, "oh! That's right, we gotta do that thing!"

They started heading for the stairs.

"What are you guys doing?" Alphys wondered.

"Um...training," Undyne said, "yeah, I promised Papyrus that I would help him work on his...suplexing."

Papyrus simply nodded affirmatively with an awkward smile on his face.

"But, I thought you already wo-" Alphys started to respond.

Undyne then snatched her up off of the couch.

"Ha, love you!" she said, kissing the lizard scientist, "I'll see you later!"

She dropped the lizard woman back onto the couch, then she and the tall skeleton fled the lab.

The two of them hopped in Papyrus' red car and headed for the "MTT Surface Outlet", where Sans would arrive at 7:00 p.m. with a mystery date. Once there, the two of them took their place at a booth near the back of the restaurant.

"Okay," Undyne said, "now that we're here, we'll finally see who Sans has been talking to on his phone."

"Yeah, but, what are we going to do while waiting for the next two hours?" Papyrus wondered.

"You got your phone?" Undyne asked.

Papyrus pulled out his cellular device.

"I bet I can get a better score on 'Crossy Road' than you." the fish woman challenged.

"Prepare to be proven wrong!" the tall skeleton responded readily.

For the next two hours, the two spent their time playing on their phones, ordering and eating their food, and playing on their phones some more.

Finally, Papyrus checked the time on his phone.

"6:59," he said, "it won't be long now."

The two partners in crime watched the front of the restaurant intently, expecting to see Sans arrive at any moment.

"Wait, I just had a thought," Papyrus voiced, "what if Sans and whoever he's with gets a seat close to us?"

"Come on," Undyne said, "with all these tables, what are the odds that he would st all the way back here near us?"

"Okay," the tall skeleton responded, "but, on the other hand, what if they sit somewhere out of our point of vision?"

Undyne thought about it.

"We'll figure something out." she stated.

Five minutes passed and they saw nothing.

"Oh, where is he?" Papyrus groaned impatiently, "He said 7:00 p.m.."

"Well," Undyne said, "you can't just assume that they would show up on the dot."

Then it happened.

"How about right here?" they heard.

It was definitely Sans.

"Yes, this is perfect." a girl's voice responded.

"He's here!" Papyrus uttered quietly.

They saw Sans and whoever he was with get seated at a table in the corner...directly across form their own.

"Oh no." Papyrus gasped, quickly turning his head in the opposite direction.

Undyne turned away as well.

"Curses," the tall skeleton said tensely, "I was afraid that this was happen."

"Don't worry," Undyne advised, "as long as we don't do anything to get noticed, we should be fine."

"Right," Papyrus affirmed, "but, we still need to see who he's with."

They both slowly turned their heads around.

"Ah...crap," she groaned, "can you see who it is?"

"I don't know," Papyrus replied, "the only thing I can tell for sure is that it's a girl."

They looked closely, however, between the dim lighting, the angle of the table Sans and his date were sitting at, and their struggle to not call attention to themselves, they had a hard time identifying who was sitting opposite of Sans at his table. It was harder for Undyne, because of her missing eye.

"Curse this atmospheric lighting." Papyrus muttered, straining to see through the darkness, which was not easy, given that the only close light sources were candles in the center of the tables.

"We need to get closer." Undyne said.

"What happened to 'not calling attention to ourselves'?" the tall skeleton responded.

"I'm not saying were gonna leap the tables screaming bloody murder," Undyne affirmed, "we'll just slide one table over."

The two very slowly rose from their seats and quietly moved to the next table over, luckily, nobody paid any attention to their movements.

While they still did not have a better view of the table they were watching, they were now able to hear what was being said more clearly.

"So, what do you think?" Sans asked, "Did I do good?"

A feminine giggle was heard in response.

"It's wonderful, so generous of you Sans," the girl sitting across from him said, "I can't remember the last time I was treated by someone other than myself."

"Doesn't that voice sound familiar to you?" Undyne whispered.

"It does," Papyrus whispered back, "it's driving me nuts."

"Well, you know," Sans replied to his date, "I just wanted to do something nice for you, since you've been letting me spend so much time at your store."

Undyne and Papyrus looked at each other as they began to piece everything together.

"Ahuhuhu," the girl with Sans giggled, "yes, well, one of these days, I still need to bring you upstairs."

"Upstairs?" Sans replied playfully, "Is that a hint?"

His date snickered.

"Depending on how you play your cards," she said coyly, "perhaps."

"Oh my God," Papyrus said quietly, "I...I know who that is!"

"I think I do too." Undyne replied.

They looked at the table again and watched as Sans's date placed her hands on the table, all six of them.

"As I recall," the girl said, "we agreed that we'd bake together sometime."

"That we did." Sans affirmed.

"It's the best part about owning/living in a bakery," his date affirmed, "you're never tempted to order dessert when eating out. Especially when what you make is so much better."

"Well said, Miss Muffet." Sans replied.

Upon hearing that, it took everything Papyrus and Undyne had to not react audibly.

"Did you just hear that!?" Undyne uttered quietly to Papyrus.

"I started to suspect." the tall skeleton mumbled.

"I...but...how!?" the fish woman voiced, trying to not raise her voice, "How did Sans manage to..."

Papyrus raised his hand to silence her.

"I'm still surprised though, Sans," Muffet voiced, "we've been hanging around for a few weeks now and you _still_ haven't told your family what you've been doing?"

"It's like I said, it's a delicate matter, as we're still figuring it out," the short skeleton sighed, "I mean, I do plan on telling them eventually, soon maybe, depending on how things go. This is all still pretty new to me."

"Right, you did say that you had never been in a relationship before," the spider-woman said, "though you never explained why exactly."

Sans shrugged.

"No desire really," he expressed, with a shrug, "in fact, before coming to the surface, I had no ambition to do...anything, really. It's weird to explain to someone who...isn't like me, but, basically, the only thing I actually cared about was...well...keeping Papyrus happy."

Papyrus tensed upon hearing his name.

"You talk about him a lot," Muffet responded, "and the others, they really mean a lot to you, don't they?"

"Unquestionably," the short skeleton affirmed, "honestly, back in the underground, if not for my bro, I probably would have never left the house, whether I wanted to or not; at the end of the day, my only concern was making sure he never saw just how horrible everything was."

"Were things really that bad?" the spider-woman inquired.

Sans let out deep sigh.

"How do I explain this..." he voiced, "it was like...nothing would ever change, that is, nothing could ever change, ya know? Like, whenever it seemed like things were turning around, like we were finally getting the end we deserved, something would happen and just...undo it all. We'd try and we'd try and we'd try to get back to where we wanted to be and something just...wouldn't let us."

Silence filled the corner for several seconds.

"The only good thing about it at the end of the day was that nobody else could see the horrible situation we were stuck in," Sans attested, "including Papyrus...and our friends."

Papyrus and Undyne looked at each other awkwardly.

"I guess it really wasn't smooth sailing for everyone," Muffet affirmed, "after all, many of my spider friends were trapped in the ruins for a long time, even if they would have been able to burrow their way out, they would've never stood a chance in that cold area."

"Well, one thing's for sure," Sans said, "nobody will ever be forced to go back there again, this time, we'll _stay_ free."

"Psst," Undyne whispered to Papyrus, "I don't think we'll need to be here much longer, I'm gonna go pay the bill."

She slowly slid out of her seat headed for the front of the restaurant, while Papyrus stayed in his seat.

"So, all of that aside," Muffet asked, "how is the family adjusting to life on the surface?"

"Oh, they all love it," Sans said, "Pap drives his car everywhere, the kids are inseparable, Toriel is thrilled with her teaching job, and I usually help her cook, we all do."

"Aw, look at you," the spider-woman laughed, "proud big brother and son surrogate."

"I try." Sans stated.

Papyrus quickly checked the time on his phone, it was already 7:30 p.m..

"So, how does your brother like your new family?" Muffet wondered.

"Ah, I don't think I've seen him so happy since Undyne agreed to give him warrior training," Sans said, "Papyrus finds happiness in everything...lucky guy, never being bothered by anything, patience of a saint, eternally optimistic...he really is the best."

The more he heard, the guiltier Papyrus felt listening to his brother's personal conversation.

"How do you think, and the rest of family, would react if they knew you were seeing someone?" Muffet voiced.

"I don't know, Toriel would probably be cool with it," Sans mused, "Asgore would probably asked questions, Alphys would probably freak out, then ask questions, Undyne would probably laugh in disbelief, the kids probably wouldn't care one way or another, and Papyrus...I'm not sure."

"Do you think they would approve of the fact that it's _me_?" the spider woman wondered.

"Can't imagine why they wouldn't," the short skeleton attested, "keep in mind I live in a house with a couple involving a fish woman and a reptile woman, honestly, I don't think we would be turning any heads too quickly."

Undyne returned to the table with Papyrus.

"Okay, our bill is paid." Undyne informed him.

"Great," Papyrus said anxiously, "we should go, right now."

"You sure?" the fish woman replied.

"Yes," the tall skeleton affirmed, "I think we've seen and heard enough."

The two of them quickly and quietly left the seating area and fled the restaurant.

As the two made their way home in Papyrus's car, an awkward silence surrounded them.

"Wow...just...wow," Undyne voiced, "Muffet is the one Sans has been talking to and hanging around with, who would've thought? I mean, there's nothing wrong with it, but, really, it still blows my mind, wondering how Sans managed to score that. No joke, that is a story I would like to here."

She turned to Papyrus.

"Your thoughts?" she inquired.

However, Papyrus remained silent.

"Papyrus?" Undyne spoke, trying to get his attention.

"Huh?" the tall skeleton responded meekly, "Oh, sorry, I was just...thinking about some things."

"Something bothering you?" the fish woman wondered.

Papyrus sighed deeply.

"Undyne...we should not have done this." he said sadly.

"What do you mean?" Undyne responded, "It was a mission accomplished wasn't it? We found out who Sans was talking to on his phone."

"Yes, but," Papyrus voiced remorsefully, "look at what we did to find out, not only did I eavesdrop on his private phone calls, but, we actually went through the trouble to secretly show up and spy on his date."

As he spoke, Undyne began to feel guilty as well.

"All that stuff we heard," the tall skeleton continued, "I know we weren't meant to hear it, at least not like this; I should've known better, my brother always keeps to himself, he always minds his own business, I had no reason to overreact like this."

"Yeah...but," the fish woman said, "we shouldn't feel to bad, we were just...curious...concerned, we wanted to make sure he wasn't getting in trouble."

"We crossed the line," Papyrus expressed contritely, "I should've just let it be...like I always did before."

The two were silent for the rest of the drive home.

* * *

Ah, that chapter was fun.

I should probably mention that this is not the first time Sans and Muffet have interacted in my fics, the first interaction between these two in my fics' chronology was in "Family Shopping Trip".

I know the Sans x Muffet thing must be surprising to some people as I have found almost nothing involving these two romantically in the fandom (save for one lone pairing stamp on DA and that is literally it), even I only thought about it jokingly at first, however, the more I thought about it, the more I thought "Why not?" After all, there are already so many bizarre pairings in this fandom, is this one really that surprising? I even already have a name for the pairing: MUFFANS, it sounds like Muffins, fun because Muffet is a baker and Sans likes puns.


	7. Chapter 7

No Strings Attached

Chapter 7.

Okay, maybe I have been a bit too enthusiastic while writing this, I will try to tone it down. But, wow, I am surprised that not everyone was able to guess that Sans' mystery girl was Muffet, I thought for sure the nickname would have been a dead-giveaway. But, I suppose one would not automatically get it unless they remembered that little detail, which, honestly could be easy to forget.

Hopefully this story will not take too much longer to finish.

* * *

Papyrus and Undyne made it home, thankfully able to avoid getting caught by Sans.

"Wow," Undyne said, "that was nerve-wracking."

Papyrus said nothing as he was still brooding over their misdeed.

"There you two are." they heard.

in the doorway of the kitchen, they saw Toriel, Asgore, and Alphys looking at them, Toriel looked and Asgore looked relieved, while Alphys looked quite angry.

"Thank goodness you finally made it home." Asgore said.

"Where have you two been?" Toriel voiced, "You've been gone all day."

"You guys said you were just going out to do some training," Alphys questioned irately, "but, here I've spent the last few hours calling your phone, wondering when you were going to be home, and you never picked up! You've never missed my calls, even while training, and if you did, you would always call back with an explanation. What exactly were you guys doing for so long without calling home or picking up your phones?"

As the two looked at the three housemates, who looked at them with great curiosity, the two had to piece an excuse together on the double.

"I...we...I'm sorry..." Papyrus spoke hesitantly, "we actually..."

"Lost track of time!" Undyne said abruptly.

Her excuse caught Papyrus off guard.

"Yeah, see, we really did spend the whole day training, working out," the fish woman told them, "but, we turned off our cellphones to avoid getting distracted and we kinda forgot and we were having so much fun...we...just...kinda got lost in our antics."

She looked at the tall skeleton.

"Right, Pap?" she jabbed.

"R-Right," Papyrus said meekly, "we're sorry...I promise that this will _never_ happen again."

"Well, I guess accidents do happen," Asgore said, "let's just hope that this was a one time deal."

"Try to call home next time," Toriel advised, "or at the very least, tell everyone where you're going and when you plan to be home."

"Sure thing, Bosses." Undyne stated.

"We won't make the same mistake again." Papyrus sighed.

The three housemates seemed to relent.

"Well then, since we got all that out of the way," Toriel affirmed, "dinner is still on the stove if you two are hungry."

* * *

At 9:30 p.m., Frisk and Asriel were tucked into bed by their goat parents; while Asriel fell asleep rather quickly, Frisk could not bring himself to fall asleep. There was just too much on his mind.

"Frisk." he heard.

He glanced downward and saw Gaster standing at the foot of his bed.

"Hello." Frisk said quietly.

"I didn't think I'd ever be called so late," Gaster voiced, "shouldn't you be asleep."

"Yeah," the human boy said, "but, I can't sleep yet, too much to think about."

Gaster knelt down beside the human child's bed.

"I see," the looming skeleton replied, "a problem we share."

"You can't sleep either?" the human boy responded.

"More often than not," Gaster said, "no."

Frisk turned on his side to better face his skeletal friend.

"So, when you do," the boy asked, "where _do_ you sleep?"

"In the same place I spend most of time," the skeleton man affirmed, "where no one can see me."

Frisk looked around.

"Do you have dreams?" he wondered.

Gaster nodded.

"Every night and day, awake or asleep," the looming skeleton expressed, "my mind is always rife with dreams and nightmares, memories of times long past and fantasies of what may...or may not...lie ahead."

The human boy looked on thoughtfully.

"I apologize if I sounded dramatic there." Gaster said awkwardly.

"It's okay," Frisk replied, "I think about all that too."

He looked over at the soundly sleeping Asriel then looked at the ceiling.

"I still think about how I got here, how _everyone_ got here," the human boy expressed, "I think about my past, even though I'd rather not, but, more importantly, I also think about what lies ahead. In my future, I see everyone there with me, all the monsters, the whole family...including you."

Gaster looked at him curiously.

"One day you'll be with us, too." Frisk avowed.

Again, the looming skeleton could find know appropriate response.

"Well," Gaster said, "I think it's time you went to sleep."

"Wait," Frisk requested, "could you tell me something else, about the past that is?"

He looked up pleadingly and once again the skeletal man's will melted.

"Well," Gaster replied, "all right, if it will help you sleep."

Frisk smiled and eagerly turned onto his back.

"Anything specifically you would like to hear about this time?" Gaster offered.

The human child thought about it.

"Tell me about..." Frisk started, but stopped.

"What do you want to know, Frisk?" Gaster wondered.

"...The c-core." the human child said hesitantly

The looming skeleton looked surprised.

"I just want to know how it worked," Frisk affirmed, "it was so big and mysterious."

"How it worked, that's not easy to explain," Gaster voiced, "but, purpose wise, it was built simply to provide the entire underground with electricity, like a Power plant."

"I know that," Frisk replied, "but, couldn't the Monsters have just used magic for electricity?"

"Magic is important to a Monster's being, Frisk," the skeletal man explained, "using magic power can take a lot out of someone, as their power depletes, so does a Monster's energy. Depending on a Monster's physical strength, overusing magic can have detrimental effects on a Monster's health."

"Okay," Frisk responded, "I understand that."

He thought again.

"So, do you use magic in your experiments?" the human boy wondered.

"Certainly," Gaster affirmed, "if combined properly, science and magic go hand-in-hand."

"Is that how you made Sans and Papyrus?" Frisk inquired.

Gaster was silent for moment, as if he were thinking about something.

"Yes," the looking skeleton said, "for the most part, that is how I did it."

The human child then yawned.

"Well then," Gaster voiced lightly, "perhaps it's finally time to go to sleep."

"Will I see you again tomorrow?" Frisk asked tiredly.

"What was my answer last time?" the skeleton scientist responded.

"That you would show up whenever I wanted you too." Frisk sighed, his eyelids feeling increasingly heavy.

Gaster nodded and pat the human child's head as he finally nodded off.

"Good night, Frisk." he whispered.

The skeletal man stood up from the human boy's bedside.

"Gaster?" he suddenly heard, a very small and quiet voice.

He glanced over his shoulder at Asriel and saw the goat boy rubbing his eyes. Suddenly feeling perplexed, Gaster quickly faded back into the invisible void.

Asriel opened his eyes and looked around at the slightly dark room, seeing that it was still only him and a soundly sleeping Frisk.

"Huh," he mumbled with shrug, "what a strange dream."

* * *

Hmm...what does this mean?

Before I forget ( _again_ ) I want to finally mention that I have posted some new pieces up on my DA(Deviantart) account of Undertale fan art, the ones currently up being of scenes from my fic "The Light That Leads Us Home", in case anyone was interested.


	8. Chapter 8

No Strings Attached

Chapter 8.

Moving on.

* * *

It was midnight when Sans finally got home, very slowly walking through the front door, into the dark, quiet house. He looked around and, seeing nobody downstairs, guessed that the rest of the family was already asleep.

He carefully slipped his shoes off by the door and walked up the stairs, as quietly as he could manage; at the top of the stairs, the short skeleton looked up and down the hallway, again, seeing nobody.

Sans quickly shuffled to his room and opened the door, only to find his brother standing in the middle of his room.

"There you are," Papyrus said, "my God, I was beginning to think that you weren't coming home tonight."

"It's a long story-" the short skeleton replied, "what are you doing in my room?"

"Well, a little while ago I heard something down the hall, so I got up to investigate," the tall skeleton explained, "turned out that Asriel was disturbed by an odd dream, he didn't really go into detail about it, simply said that it was confusing; anyway, when I saw your room empty and realized that your weren't home yet, I wasn't able to go back to sleep, so, I decided to wait up until you got home."

"Well, I'm home." Sans stated.

"Yes, that's good," Papyrus said, "guess I should return to my bed now."

He started to walk towards the door.

"One moment, Papyrus," Sans voiced, "out of curiosity, tell me, what did you do today?"

"Hmm?" Papyrus responded awkwardly, "Oh, nothing really, I just hung out with Undyne, doing...training stuff."

"Really," the short skeleton pressed, "you didn't go _anywhere_ significant? You didn't...say...go to a restaurant by any chance? Perhaps the "MTT Surface Outlet"?"

Papyrus felt a sharp chill shoot up his spine.

" _Oh God,_ " he thought frantically, " _does he know!?_ "

"W-What makes you ask that?" he tensely wondered aloud.

"Funny story," Sans voiced in an unsettling casual tone, "I was with a friend earlier and at 7:00 p.m., we went to the "MTT Surface Outlet for dinner, and here's where it gets fun, as we enter the parking lot, what do I immediately notice?" Papyrus flinched at his brother's eyes turned blank, "An unmistakable red sport car that looked exactly like yours sitting in the driveway outside."

Papyrus tried to respond.

"Not to mention the inconspicuously loud whispering we heard coming from the table across from us." Sans added.

Tense silence filled the room.

The tall skeleton tried to look for a response, but, could not find suitable words, the guilt on his face said it all.

"So...be honest," the short skeleton questioned coolly, "how much did you hear?"

Papyrus anxiously tapped his fingers together.

"I-I...well...I heard...enough." he affirmed meekly.

"How long had you been there?" Sans questioned further, his tone not changing.

"We..." Papyrus sighed, "we got there at 5:00 p.m., it was the only time we could reserve closest to your arrival...which I knew because I overheard your phone call the night before."

Sans looked on with a neutral expression on his face.

"Overheard..." he asked flatly, "or eavesdropped?"

Papyrus thought about it.

"Uh...well...both I guess," he affirmed penitently, "one and then the other...I'm sorry."

Sans did not say anything else, nor did his expression change, he simply walked over to his bedroom door, opened it, and gestured to the doorway.

Taking the hint, Papyrus quickly stepped into the hallway, he tensed, expecting to have the door slammed behind him, but, was surprised to hear it softly creak shut, without even hearing the click of the latch. The tall skeleton was not sure if it was because Sans did not want to risk disturbing the rest of the family's sleep or if he was simply trying to keep himself together, regardless, the damage was done and Papyrus knew that his brother was not happy with him.

* * *

The following morning at 8:00 a.m., the family was having breakfast at the kitchen table, however, the room was laden with uneasy silence, with only the sound of silverware making contact with plates being heard. Once Papyrus confessed to what he and Undyne had done the previous night, word quickly spread to the rest of the family, who all reacted differently. Toriel and Asgore of course were disappointed, but, chose not to stress the issue further than it needed, Alphys was so shocked by the information, she could not find any words to respond with, having not said a word all morning, Frisk and Asriel, being the least informed on the situation, as the adults did not want to bring them into it, were simply confused by everyone's behavior.

"Well," Toriel voiced, breaking the silence, "look at the time, we best head off to school now."

"Right, right," Asgore said, "get your stuff, Frisk."

After depositing their used dishware in the kitchen sink, the two goat parents and the human boy left the house for the school.

Moments later, Alphys got up from her seat.

"Ah, I just remembered," she said awkwardly, "I need to go check on something in the lab."

The lizard scientist jumped out of her chair and made for the basement.

"H-Hold on, I'll join you." Undyne called after her, getting up from her seat.

She quickly ran to catch up with the lizard woman, leaving only the skeleton brothers and Asriel at the table. Papyrus continued to dismally poke at the remnants of food on his plate, while Sans seemed to have already been done, or at the very least lost interest in his own plate.

Suddenly, Sans' phone rang, but, instead of answering it then and there, he teleported from the table, presumably to his own room.

Now it was only Papyrus and Asriel, the tall skeleton stood up from his chair and collected the finished plates that had been left at the table, including Asriel's, and took them to the sink.

"Everyone is acting so different today," Asriel wondered, "did something happen?"

"Ah, well, it's nothing you or Frisk have to worry about, it's more of an adult matter." Papyrus affirmed.

"But...you're not an adult." the puzzled goat boy responded.

"Hey, I'm close;" Papyrus voiced, "look, the thing is, I...that is...Undyne _and_ I...kind of did something we shouldn't have that, I'm sure, upset Sans."

"Did you take something from him without asking?" Asriel asked curiously.

"No, not exactly." the tall skeleton answered.

"Did you see something you weren't supposed too?" the goat child asked.

Papyrus sighed.

"Oh yeah." he stated flatly.

"I see," Asriel said, swinging his legs, "I've done that before on accident."

"Yes, well, in our case, it wasn't an accident." Papyrus replied.

"Oh...I see..." the goat boy replied, "that's not good."

"No it's not." the tall skeleton said.

He sat back down at the table.

"Is that what you guys were talking about last night?" Asriel inquired, "I heard talking in the other room while trying to go back to sleep, but, I had no idea what was going on."

"Oh, you did?" Papyrus replied, "Well, sorry if we disturbed you."

"Nah, you guys didn't wake me," the goat boy said, "something else did."

"Right, you said earlier that you had a strange dream that woke you up." the tall skeleton affirmed.

Asriel nodded.

"After everything we've been through, we're all used to having scary dreams by now." Papyrus said.

"Well, it wasn't necessarily a "scary" dream, more so it was just so bizarre I _had_ to wake up and think about what I just saw." Asriel voiced.

"Ah, one of those," Papyrus responded, "we're no stranger to those either."

Asriel rotated his thumbs over one-another.

"So...wanna hear about it?" he asked.

"Sure, go ahead small one," the tall skeleton offered, placing his elbow on the table and resting his chin on his fist, "tell the Great Papyrus of this "bizzareness" that plagues your slumber."

"Well, I've seen it a few different times now, I go to sleep, then I guess in my dream, I wake up and I hear Frisk talking to somebody, like carrying on a full ocnversation with somebody who wasn't there before, then I see the...something or...someone...talking to him," Asriel explained, "it kinda looks like a...a skeleton, a _really_ tall skeleton in a long coat."

Papyrus looked on curiously.

"A tall skeleton?" he inquired, "You mean...like yours truly?"

"Taller yet;" Asriel continued, "the conversations are always so quiet, I can kinda hear Frisk, but...I haven't been able to make out what the really tall skeleton is saying, it always sounds so fuzzy, _he_ looks fuzzy."

"Hmm..." Papyrus quizzed, "well, what does Frisk say in these dreams? Has anything he said offered any clues?"

"I don't know, in the dreams, Frisk always talks so quietly," Asriel went on, "but, it sounds like he's asking the visitor questions and based on his reactions, the tall man responds every time, eventually the skeleton just vanishes and I guess that's where the dreams ends."

Papyrus thought about it.

"Wowie, that _is_ a bizarre dream." he responded.

"It's strange, but," Asriel voiced, "somehow, the really tall skeleton in my dreams seems oddly familiar to me, his appearance is still fuzzy, but, something about his presence just rings a bell...like it was someone from a _looooong_ time ago, when the underground was still new, long before Chara came."

"That is strange," Papyrus mused, "perhaps your subconscious is beginning to recollect long forgotten thing from before you were a flower?"

"Maybe..." the goat boy voiced, "but...why would that be happening now and why this person?"

"That...I can't answer," the tall skeleton replied, "however, maybe it would be more helpful if you spoke to someone who has more experience with strange dream-based phenomena, like Frisk."

"I guess that would be best," Asriel said, "he does appear in the dreams after all."

Finally, the two left the kitchen, Papyrus returned to his own room, wondering how to approach the eerily quiet Sans and Asriel also went to his own room, ready to wait for Frisk to get home so he could talk to him.

"I hope Frisk has the answer to my dreams," the goat boy wondered to himself, "nothing about them makes any sense."

Asriel started to think about his dreams more and more, the image of the tall figure that appeared was burned into his brain. He was sure that he had seen this person before, but, his memories of his childhood in the underground were still rather hazy. The only thing that did come clearly to his mind was a name, that also sounded familiar.

"Hmm...Gaster?" he mused.

* * *

Gaster sat in the darkness of his void, what was first an unbearably silent veil was now more like a peaceful bedroom to the once lonely skeleton man. His frequent visits with Frisk started to make him feel alive again, as the human child seemed to remind of what it was like to be a father, a role he longed to have again.

Suddenly, a familiar feeling washed over the looming skeleton as he began to feel himself merge back to edge of existence, where he was able to see Frisk. He looked around and found himself in the human child's bedroom, but, Frisk himself was nowhere to be found.

He looked at the clock on the wall.

" _Odd...Frisk shouldn't be home for several hours yet_ ," he thought, " _so how am I..._ "

Gaster then looked down and saw Asriel, the son of his old friend and king, Asgore.

"Wha-Asriel?" he mumbled, "Wait...did he..."

It was then that the goat child's ears twitched, indicating that he had heard something.

"Huh?" a puzzled Asriel spoke.

Gaster watched as the child looked around.

"That's weird," the goat boy said, "it sounded like somebody just said my name."

It did not seem like Asriel could seem him, but, it was clear to Gaster that the child was aware his presence to some degree. The looming skeleton wondered if he should make his presence definitively known or if his should hold off.

"Ah," Asriel sighed, "I can't just stay in here all day, I need to find something else to do until Frisk gets home."

He then stood up and left the room, unaware of his confused visitor.

Gaster, on the other hand, simply stood there, befuddled.

"Hmm...he is the same age as Frisk," he pondered, "I wonder..."

* * *

With Gaster's situation, I imagine he would be something like a ghost, being a disembodied soul visible only to certain people.

I watch a lot of those paranormal investigation shows and on a lot of them, they say that children and animals are more sensitive to paranormal energy, being more likely to sense or encounter supernatural phenomena. I am not too certain about the legitimacy of it all, but, as the agnostic I am, I would not rule anything out.

Anyway, I look forward to writing the next chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

No Strings Attached

Chapter 9.

Now that it is out there, time to take this in another direction.

* * *

Sans was lying on his bed, staring at the beige ceiling of his bedroom, his mind flooded with many thoughts. namely, the thought of what to say to his brother. He was not happy about what he had done, but, at the same time, he felt oddly relieved for some reason.

Just then, his phone buzzed, he looked at it and found that he had received a text message from Muffet.

"Wat r u doing?" the text read.

Sans quickly replied, "Nothing."

Muffet responded quickly, "Feel like coming over?"

Sans let out a deep sigh.

"Now's not a good time." he sent her.

He let his hand holding the cellphone fall to his side, only for the device to buzz moments later.

Sans flicked the phone open and saw Muffet's reply: "What's wrong?"

"Things r tense, we got caught." Sans sent her.

"We?" the spider girl sent him in return.

"We as in u and me," Sans clarified, "turns out my bro and Undyne crashed our date the other night and heard almost everything we talked about."

He waited after sending the text and nearly a minute passed without a reply.

Then his phone started ringing, the caller: Muffet.

"Uh oh." the short skeleton uttered.

He slowly opened the phone, put it to his ear, and answered, "H-Hello?"

"Are you serious!?" the spider-woman cried angrily, "I would so accuse you of joking, but, even you wouldn't make up something like that!"

Sans inhaled and exhaled deeply, this would not be a pleasant talk.

"Yeah, I wish I was making it up," he sighed, "but, it's true, the family knows about us now."

The short skeleton cringed as the spider baker growled in frustration on the other end.

"That is so wrong," Muffet voiced irately, "if they weren't your family I would-"

"I get it!" Sans replied anxiously, hoping to quell the spider-woman's anger, "Look, I'm not happy about it either, I haven't talked to my brother since last night, though, mostly because I don't even know where to start. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, knew it was only a matter of time before someone found out, though, I would rather it not have been like this."

"It was unwarranted, Sans," the baker huffed, "they had no right to intrude in our personal affairs!"

Sans rolled onto his side as he listened to his companion rant.

"I know, it's not cool," he said, hoping his calmness would rub off on the spider-woman, "but, I guess we should've seen it coming, what with all the sneaking around and not saying anything about what we were doing-"

"I understand them being curious, Sans," Muffet expressed, "but, you're an adult, you're entitled to a private life and as far as I'm concerned, this isn't just an affront to your privacy it's an affront to _mine_ , which I do _not_ appreciate!"

Sans laughed.

"What's funny?" the spider-woman replied curiously.

"I've never heard or seen you so angry before," the short skeleton affirmed, "it's strangely endearing."

There was silence on the other end, followed by a feeble laugh.

"Don't worry," Sans said, "this won't go ignored."

"It better not;" Muffet replied, her tone having changed a bit, "it's just...disappointing, you know, the sneaking part was half of the fun."

"Well, we're just gonna have to be more creative from now on." the short skeleton offered sportively.

After saying their farewells, the call ended.

* * *

Papyrus was in his room, cheerlessly playing with his action figures at his side table, rocking them back and forth, while glumly making attack noises with his mouth.

Suddenly, he heard a knock at his door, he got up from the table, then walked over to the door and opened it. To his surprise, it was brother standing outside his room.

"Sans?" the surprised tall skeleton uttered.

"Hey bro," the short skeleton said, "we need to talk."

"Yeah," Papyrus replied, "I was thinking the same thing."

As soon as Sans walked in, he closed the door.

"First off," the short skeleton brother sighed, "I'm still not happy about yesterday-"

"I know!" Papyrus cut in distraughtly, "I know it was wrong, I'm sorry, it's just...Undyne got the idea and I-I honestly _was_ against it at first, but, I was just so...so curious, I-"

Sans raised a hand to speak.

"I don't like what you did, everything you heard, you weren't supposed to hear it, at least, not like that," he voiced coolly, "but, actually...I'm...kinda glad you did hear it. Because, honestly, I wasn't sure how or when I would've told you any of it otherwise."

"Well, since I did hear it, you don't have to explain any of it," Papyrus replied, "but, I am curious as to why you were hesitant to talk about it, I would've listened."

"The thing is, you have listened," Sans expressed, "you listened to the same explanation several times...eventually...I just got tired of repeating myself, you were just going to forget again anyway."

"Because...the resets..." the tall skeleton sighed.

His brother nodded.

"But, Sans," Papyrus affirmed, "the resets are over now, you could've told me everything again and I would never forget it ever again."

"Yeah...that's one of the things that...kinda made me hesitate," Sans said, "every time in the past when I tried to explain it you would either be confused or wouldn't believe me...so, I gave up eventually. It's really not easy to explain, even when I want to explain it."

"Oh, okay then," the tall brother responded, "well, you definitely have a better understanding of cosmic whatnot than myself, so...I guess I can see why it would be hard to explain."

It was silent for several seconds.

"Well, aside from that, there is still more I need to te-" Sans spoke solemnly.

"Hold on now, you don't have to say anything else," Papyrus said quickly, "you don't have to explain _everything_ now, we've just established that we have all the time in the world. Right now, all I want is to be forgiven...I'm really sorry for eavesdropping."

"Ah, I forgive you, Bro," Sans voiced, "although, _I'm_ not the only one you need to apologize to."

Papyrus looked on curiously.

* * *

Sometime later Papyrus and Undyne, at Sans urging, were at Muffet's bakery, standing before the miffed spider-woman.

"Again, we are so very, very sorry about crashing your's and Sans' date the other night," Papyrus expressed, "curiosity got the better of us, we crossed the line, it was wrong, and it will never happen again."

"And, I will admit, it was mostly my idea," Undyne affirmed awkwardly, "okay, _all_ my idea, I couldn't help myself...I'm sorry."

Muffet drummed one set of fingers on the counter in front of her, thinking about what she had just heard.

"Your apology does sound sincere, I suppose forgiveness is in order," Muffet said, "not that I have much of a choice, as I'm sure it would prove detrimental to mine and Sans relationship if I held onto this matter."

"So...we are forgiven?" Papyrus wondered tensely.

"Yes." the spider-woman affirmed.

"Whew, all right," Undyne said, "we got that matter put to rest, thank God."

The two of them prepared to leave the store.

"Wait," Papyrus voiced, "there's still one thing I'm curious about, just how exactly did you and Sans...get together?"

Muffet thought about it.

"Eh, kind of a long story," Muffet voiced, "not sure if there's time to explain right now, given..."

She looked passed them and the two turned around to find a long line of impatient customers waiting behind them.

"Oh, right," Papyrus said, "we should probably go now."

* * *

All right, another chapter done, shorter than I expected it to be, but, I felt it would be best to keep this chapter focused on the "Forgiveness Issue" alone to get it out of the way. The next chapter will carry on with the "Gaster Issue".


	10. Chapter 10

No Strings Attached

Chapter 10.

So, now that the brothers' issue is settled, let's get back to Gaster's, Frisk's, and Asriel's.

* * *

At 3:15 p.m., the last school bell rang and the students were quick to leave the classroom, but, not before Toriel made an important announcement.

"Don't forget, Children," she announced, "new grades will be posted tomorrow, so be sure to check the bulletin board when you come in tomorrow."

Frisk took his backpack off of its hook and approached Toriel.

"Are you ready to go home, Frisk?" she asked.

The human child nodded and took her hand as they walked down the hall, toward the building's exit.

"So, Frisk," Toriel wondered, "are you excited to see your new grades tomorrow?"

"I guess," Frisk replied, "they shouldn't be too bad...right?"

"Of course, they're not bad at all," Toriel voiced, "your grades have improved significantly, I'm proud of you, dear."

Frisk smiled in response.

* * *

While everyone who was home was busy with their own thing, Asriel was sitting on the couch, watching television; the goat child repeatedly glanced at the clock, waiting for Frisk and his parents to get home. He was anxious to speak to Frisk about his strange "dreams", in hope that he would have some kind of advice for him.

At 3:30 p.m., the parents and Frisk finally walked through the front door and Asriel was quick to run up and hug his parents.

"Welcome home!" the goat child said happily.

"Hello, Asriel," Toriel affirmed, "you know, pretty soon, you won't have to sit here, waiting for us to get home."

"Right, because, I'll be at school with you guys and Frisk." Asriel responded.

He then turned to the human boy.

"Speaking of which," the goat boy inquired, "Frisk, are you busy right now?"

"Oh, uh, I was just gonna get started on my homework." Frisk affirmed.

"Does it have to be right this minute?" Asriel wondered, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

Frisk looked in the direction of their bedroom and sighed quietly.

"Well, if it's important," he said, "I guess I don't have to start it right now."

"Remember, Frisk," Toriel informed him, "it's Friday, you have all weekend to do it, just try not to wait until the very last minute."

Frisk nodded and he and Asriel went up to their bedroom, where Frisk hung his backpack on the doorknob, after closing the door.

"So, what's up?" Frisk asked his roommate.

"Well, um..." Asriel asked, "you know what it's like to have weird dreams...right?"

"Yeah, I think everyone does." the human boy responded.

Asriel smiled feebly.

"Yes, well..." the goat boy said, "lately, I've been having some very bizarre dreams myself, they're not, like, scary, they're most just...odd, puzzling."

"Really now?" Frisk replied, "Care to elaborate?"

The goat child thought about it.

"They're weird, because...they're simple but weird to describe," Asriel explained, "for several nights I've seen the same thing, I look around and I see...well...you, and you appear to be...talking to someone."

Frisk listened closely.

"A very peculiar looking someone," Asriel continued, "I have yet to be able to make out what they're saying, but, you always seem to give it clear responses."

The human child looked on curiously, increasingly wary.

"Can you...give a physical description of this 'someone'?" Frisk requested.

"Well, he...I'm pretty sure it was a 'he'...looked like...well...a _really_ tall skeleton," the goat boy affirmed, "wearing a long black coat...I think it was a coat."

Frisk's eyes widened as what he heard registered with him.

"You...you saw that?" he questioned coolly.

"Yeah, it was really strange," Asriel responded, "but...that's not all..."

He tapped his small, fuzzy hands together.

"Aside from the dreams, I've been having these other weird feelings lately," the goat boy went on, "like, the feeling that someone or something, though I can't see it, is here with us, watching us."

Frisk felt a tingle travel down his spine as his friend continued to speak.

"Though, as weird as it is, somehow, I don't feel scared at all," Asriel attested, "something about it feels familiar and...for some reason...I feel like there's something I have to do, like, someone needs help...and I wanna help."

The human boy was at a loss for words as he wondered what this could mean for them.

"What do you think it means, Frisk?" the goat boy wondered, "My dreams and...feelings...that is."

Frisk thought about how to respond in such a delicate situation.

"Um...well," he offered, "how do you know that...they're only dreams?"

Asriel looked on curiously.

"If you're feeling all that you say you are," Frisk voiced, "maybe it means something more than you know...you know?"

"You mean, like...the person I'm seeing isn't a dream...he's real?" the puzzled goat boy responded.

Frisk remained silent as he thought about what to say next.

"I don't understand, though," Asriel inquired, "what does that mean?"

The human boy sighed deeply.

"Listen, I'm going to do some work right now," Frisk explained, "but, tonight, after we get tucked in and the room is empty, don't go to sleep. Stay awake as long as you can and just...trust me."

Asriel still looked confused, but, he nodded.

"I promise, tonight, if this works," Frisk attested, "it will all make sense."

* * *

Moments later, once Asriel had gone about his business, Frisk got started on his homework and immediately as he did, Gaster appeared to him.

"Hello again, Frisk." Gaster said.

"Hi." Frisk replied.

"Homework time again?" the looming skeleton asked.

"Yes," Frisk answered, "but, that's not the only thing I need to talk to you about."

"Oh?" Gaster responded curiously.

"Yeah," the human child said, "but, let's get this done first, then talk about the other thing."

Fifteen minutes of homework later.

"Thank you." Frisk said, putting his worksheets away.

Gaster nodded.

"Now the other thing," the human child voiced, "I was talking to Asriel earlier and he told me some interesting things."

Gaster looked on with interest.

"I think he can see you," Frisk said, "or...almost see you, at least."

"Ah, I see," the skeleton man replied, "I had feeling."

Frisk looked up curiously.

"I appeared here earlier," Gaster explained, "it was odd to me, because you weren't home yet and usually I can only show up when you need me, however, I found that I was actually in the same room as Asriel. I don't think he actually saw me, but, he definitely seemed to know that I was there...in fact...I think he may have summoned me without realizing it."

"Have you ever actually appeared to him in any of his dreams?" Frisk wondered.

"Can't say that I have." Gaster affirmed.

"But, you couldn't appear to me in person until you appeared to me in my dreams long enough for me to be able to speak to you," Frisk voiced, "so how is it that Asriel is beginning to see or sense you now, even though you haven't appeared to him in his dreams?"

Gaster thought about it.

"Well, it's a bit of a stretch, but, I have one theory," he voiced, "but, it could have something to do with Asriel's own experience with death, reincarnation, and revival, similar situations, though, he did get ahead of me in the process. Of course, I never expected to even make it this far myself."

"Death connection, okay, I get that;" Frisk replied, "well, I told Asriel to stay awake tonight on the off chance that he be able to see you...so...you think you can come back tonight and test our theory out?"

"I can and I will," Gaster assured, "as I'd like to know for sure myself."

* * *

At 10:00 p.m., Frisk and Asriel were tucked into bed by Toriel and Asgore, who let them stay up a tad later on weekends, and as soon as the goat parents left the room, they got to work on their objective.

"What should I do, Frisk?" Asriel wondered quietly.

"Just think about what you've seen and felt," Frisk instructed, "keep thinking about it, and just wait."

As he spoke, Frisk was mentally summoning Gaster, begging him to show up.

"Frisk," he heard, "I'm here."

The human child looked up and saw the looming skeleton smiling down at him.

Frisk responded by waving at the skeleton man.

"H-Hey," Asriel voiced, "did something happen? The room feels different."

Frisk rolled out of bed, grabbed Gaster's hand, and pulled him to Asriel's side of the room.

"Asriel," Frisk inquired, "look around, do you notice anything different?"

The goat boy turned to face him.

"I...I don't see anything," he said, "but, something is there with you, I can tell."

"Call out to him," Frisk whispered to Gaster, "see if he can hear you."

"Asriel," Gaster called audibly, "can you hear me?"

Asriel sat up in bed.

"Can you hear anything other than me at all?" Frisk questioned desperately.

"Well," the goat child affirmed, "I can't say that I hear anything...but, it definitely feels like someone is trying to get my attention."

"Keep calling his name," Frisk told Gaster quietly, "I'm gonna try something."

Gaster proceeded to repeatedly say Asriel's name.

"Asriel," Frisk asked, "tell me, on those nights where you saw that person I was talking to...what was going through your mind?"

The goat prince thought about it.

"Well, I just kept hearing you talk to someone, I just assumed that you were talking in your sleep," Asriel expressed, "but, the more I heard the more curious I got and I just kept wondering who you were talking to...I wanted to know who you were talking to. Yeah, that's about it, I just really wanted to know who you were talking to every night."

"Okay, so, let's go with that, instead of thinking "who's there?" try thinking "I want to see who is there"," Frisk instructed, "tell yourself that you want to this person, that you want this person to show up, that you _need_ this person to show up."

Asriel nodded, then he closed his eyes and started concentrated.

"Um, should I..." Gaster spoke curiously.

"Keep calling." Frisk stated.

The skeleton man nodded and continued to call the goat boy's name.

"Okay," Frisk asked Asriel, "are you thinking about it?"

"Yes," Asriel said, his eyes closed tight, "I want to see the freakishly tall skeleton."

His answer brought everything to a brief halt.

"Freakishly?" a puzzled Gaster responded.

"It's an expression..." Frisk said to him, "let's just keep going."

The human boy urged Gaster to the ground and climbed onto the skeleton's lap, positioning himself right next to Asriel's face.

"Now, Asriel," Frisk voiced, "tell me, have you ever heard the name...Gaster?"

With that, the goat boy's eyes snapped open.

"I have, I have heard that name before," Asriel affirmed, "some nights when I heard you talking, I swear, I heard you refer to someone as 'Gaster'."

"Great," Frisk said, "now, with your line of thinking replace the thought 'freakishly tall skeleton' with 'Gaster'."

"Really?" Gaster uttered flatly.

"Expression!" the human child pressed quietly.

He looked at Asriel.

"Try making physical contact with him." Frisk suggested to the skeleton man.

Gaster nodded.

"Yes, I...want to see Gaster," Asriel muttered to himself, "I want to see Gaster, I want. To see. Gaster!"

Right then, Gaster placed his hand on the goat child's head and at that moment, Asriel looked up with the most shocked expression he had ever had since he had been restored.

Frisk looked on tensely.

"So...can you see now?" the human boy wondered casually.

"Howdy." Asriel said to the looming skeleton, who smiled down at him.

"Hello, Asriel." Gaster said in return.

* * *

Thank God, that's finally done.

I would have gotten this done sooner, but, long story short, I was not feeling 100%, but, I am good to go now, hopefully I can start getting chapters done faster.

More to come eventually.


	11. Chapter 11

No Strings Attached

Chapter 11.

Here we go.

* * *

"It's...it's you," Asriel said in awe, referring to Gaster, "you're the one I've beein seeing, the one I've been sensing. But...it wasn't a dream, it wasn't just my imagination...you're real."

"Yes, child, I am real," Gaster affirmed, "well, mostly real."

Asriel looked confused.

"I'll explain it." Frisk offered.

The human child inhaled deeply then explained Gaster's situation in full, at least the parts he had been told.

"Wowie," Asriel responded, sitting up and turning himself around to meet the two at his bedside face-to-face, "so, then, you're kinda like me...only...you didn't end up doing bad things."

There was a brief awkward silence.

"Um, well..." Gaster faltered, "I'd...I'd be lying if I...said I was innocent, believe me...I'm not."

Asriel looked on curiously.

"I still wonder about that." Frisk stated.

"Of course, it's his decision on whether he tells us about it or not." Asriel offered.

"Eventually." the looming skeleton stated.

Frisk pulled himself onto Asriel's bed.

"Oh, so if you were the royal scientist before Alphys," Asriel said, "then you must know my dad."

"Of course," Gaster affirmed, "we go way back."

"Really?" Asriel inquired, "What was my dad like when he was younger?"

Gaster was about to answer, but, had to pause and think.

"You don't remember?" Frisk wondered.

"Oh, I remember," Gaster said, "I'm just trying to think of a fact I can share that won't break camaraderie conduct."

The children looked on curiously.

"Well, I can tell you that he did not always have that beard...or any facial hair for that matter," Gaster affirmed, "he used to always shave it off."

"So, why did he finally let it all grow out?" Asriel asked.

"Now that part I can't tell you, lest I violate the conduct." the looming skeleton said.

The three continued to talk about different things.

"So Gaster's the one whose been helping you with your school work, Frisk?" Asriel wondered.

"Yeah, like I said, he shows up whenever I want him to." Frisk attested gladly.

"Well, I'll be in school soon," the goat boy voiced, "when I am, could you help _me_ with my homework, too?"

"Come now," Gaster replied, "how could I refuse?"

The goat child looked on happily.

"Maybe by that time he'll actually be here with all of us." Frisk offered.

"Frisk." the skeleton man responded with a strained, patient sigh.

"What?" the human boy replied, "I'm just trying to stay positive."

"I know that," Gaster said, "I just don't want you to get ahead of yourself."

All was quiet for a moment.

"Well, it's getting awful late," the looming skeleton voiced, "you kids should probably be getting to sleep, shouldn't you?"

"Aw, not yet," Frisk said, jumping onto the skeleton scientist's lap, "it's the weekend and I don't have anything planned for tomorrow."

"Yeah, and this is the first time I've actually been able to interact with you," Asriel said, also rolling off of his bed, onto Gaster's lap, "there's still a lot I want to talk to you about."

As the two children pleaded in unison, the skeleton man quickly relented.

"Okay, okay," he laughed softly, "if it pleases you two, then very well, I'll stay as long as you want me too."

Gaster held the human boy and goat boy close as they happily huddled up against him, re-positioning himself into a sitting position to get comfortable, knowing that he was going to be there a while.

* * *

It was nearly 9:00 a.m. when Toriel had just finished making breakfast for the family, all of whom awoke at different times. Though, Toriel quickly noticed that Frisk and Asriel, usually two of the first ones to wake up, had yet to come down for breakfast.

"Hmm, odd," the goat woman voiced, as she walked up the stairs, "they don't usually sleep in this late, at least, not at the same time."

She got to the door to the children's bedroom and curiously pressed her ear against it, when she did not hear anything, she twisted the knob and pushed the door open.

To her surprise, Toriel found the two young boys laying on the floor next to each other in odd positions, sleeping peacefully. Amused and perplexed, the goat woman approached the sleeping children knelt down in front of them, nudging both of them gently.

"Asriel," she called lightly, "Frisk, wake up."

The human boy and the goat boy opened their eyes and looked up at their goat mother.

"Good morning, little ones," Toriel giggled, "what on earth are you doing sleeping on the floor?"

Frisk and Asriel looked at each other awkwardly.

"We were...dreaming." Frisk said.

"Yeah," Asriel affirmed meekly, "dreaming."

"Silly children," the goat woman responded, "you have beds for a reason."

Frisk and Asriel stood up.

"It was a really good dream, though." Frisk voiced.

"Yeah, a hopefully not-impossible one." Asriel added.

"As long as you two aren't doing anything you're not supposed to;" Toriel affirmed, "now come along to the kitchen, boys, your breakfast is getting cold."

The two slowly followed after their mother as she led the way to the kitchen.

"Frisk, we don't have to keep this a secret for too long, do we?" Asriel asked the human boy quietly, "Because, bad things happened the last time I had to keep a secret."

"No, not long, if we start brainstorming right away and get an idea, we'll be set," Frisk affirmed quietly, "it's like Gaster said, all we have to do is find a way to pull him from the realm of nonexistence to our realm existence."

"I don't remember him saying that." Asriel stated.

"Well, that's how I interpreted it," Frisk attested, "and that's what we're gonna do...as soon as we get an idea."

The two boys took their places at the kitchen table with the rest of the family a,s Toriel set their plates in front of them.

As he ate Frisk looked at everyone surrounding the table, focusing intently on the skeleton brothers and Asriel. Now that he was not the only one who could see what was going on, he felt that things would get much easier.

" _We'll make things right_ ," the human boy thought, " _no one get's left behind_."

* * *

Okay, that is it, that is the end.

Sorry if it seems weird to end it here, but, I think I taken this as far as I can and I have so many other fic ideas following this, I _have_ to move on already. But, that's okay, because while this fic is done, the story will be continued in another, hopefully not too far down the road. In the meantime, I want to do some fics focusing on the other characters, like the Muffans situation, Asriel bonding with the skeleton brothers, Asriel starting school, and so on, just a lot of ideas and I am not quite sure where I start next, but, whatever it is, here's hoping I can make it interesting.


End file.
